Bill of quantities

The bill is the spine of the job

Enter the priced works once. Every certificate values against these lines and the final account adjusts them, so the structure you choose here is the structure your client sees for the rest of the contract.

Sections and references kept in the measurement standard you priced to
Re-measurement under FIDIC Clause 12 valued against the same lines
Currency set per job, so the bill and every certificate read in it

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Bill of Quantities

Priced works

ItemValue

1.00 SUBSTRUCTURE£154,000.00

1.01 Excavation and disposal£56,000.00

1.02 Mass concrete foundations£98,000.00

2.00 FRAME & UPPER FLOORS£432,000.00

3.00 EXTERNAL ENVELOPE£388,500.00

4.00 INTERNAL FINISHES£264,200.00

+ 3 further lines…

Contract sum · 42 items£2,190,000.00

Seven sections, forty-two priced items. Currency and jurisdiction are set per job; taxes and statutory dates are published starting points to verify locally.

The bill follows the measurement standard for the market

A bill priced under UK SMM or NRM reads differently from one measured under POMI or CESMM, and a FIDIC Red Book job is re-measured against the work actually done under Clause 12.

QScope carries the bill you priced, in the structure and the standard you used. The priced bill and the currency belong to the job, so a certificate against an international bill reads in its own currency and its own references, not translated into a UK shape.

Bill of Quantities

Keep the structure you priced

Enter the bill the way you built it.

Section separators for each element, with their own subtotals
Reference, description and contract value on every line
Order preserved exactly as you entered it

Bill of Quantities

Priced works

ItemValue

1.00 SUBSTRUCTURE£34,200.00

1.01 Excavation and disposal£12,400.00

1.02 Mass concrete foundations£21,800.00

2.00 SUPERSTRUCTURE£96,400.00

2.01 Brickwork to first floor£12,000.00

Contract sum£219,250.33

A certificate that reads like the bill needs no covering explanation. One that reorders everything generates a phone call every month.

Final Account

Provisional sums and omissions behave differently

Both change the contract sum, and confusing them is how a final account turns into an argument.

Provisional sums entered at full value and valued as they are used
Drawing down a provisional sum in stages is the case for valuing that line as a fixed sum
Omitted work marked rather than deleted, so the record of what was priced survives

Final Account

Adjustments from the bill

Original contract sum£219,250.33

Provisional sum, drainage: adjusted(£2,400.00)

Omission, external store(£3,150.00)

Variations, approved+£4,240.00

Adjusted contract sum£217,940.33

A provisional sum is money set aside for work not yet defined. It sits in the bill at full value and you draw it down as the work is instructed and priced. An omission is work the client has removed, and it comes off the contract sum entirely.

See it running before you sign up

Bill of Quantities

You do not need all of it to issue this month

This matters when you are moving a job that is already running.

Enter previously certified figures per line and carry on from there
QScope does not need the history of every past valuation to produce the next one
Add sections later without disturbing certificates already issued

Bill of Quantities

Partial bill entered

ItemPrev. cert.Value

1.00 SUBSTRUCTURE£30,900£34,200

1.01 Excavation and disposal£12,400£12,400

1.02 Mass concrete foundations£18,500£21,800

2.00 SUPERSTRUCTURE£0£96,400

2.01 Brickwork to first floor£0£12,000

Entered so far£130,600.00

Put in the sections you are valuing this period, enter what has been certified against them previously, and add the rest as the job goes on. You are not blocked from issuing while you type.

Client Valuations

Every certificate values against these lines

The bill is not a document you file once and forget.

Each line valued by percentage or as a fixed sum on the certificate
Section subtotals carried straight from the bill to the certificate
No line certified past its contract value

Client Valuations

Interim certificate PC-04

DescriptionThis valThis period

Substructure100 %£0.00

Brickwork to first floor40 %£4,800.00

VO-01 Additional window100 %£1,000.00

This period, exc VAT£24,180.00

Less retention at 5%(£1,209.00)

Due this certificate, exc VAT£14,031.00

Enter the priced works once and the certificate follows the same references, the same order and the same subtotals, so the client reads a valuation that matches the bill they signed.

Variations

Approved variations join the bill as new lines

A variation changes the priced works.

Additions, omissions and substitutions each marked against the bill
Variation value carried through to the adjusted contract sum
Basis of valuation and contract clause recorded against every change

Variations

VO-01 Additional window to gable

Basis of valuationContract rates

Contract clauseJCT 5.6.1

Extension of time2 days

Loss and expenseNo

Subtotal£1,000.00

Certified in valuations£1,000.00

Still to certify£0.00

Every approved variation carries its own reference and value and prices in the certificate as a normal line, so the bill and the change control tell one story.

Who it is for

Four chairs, one valuation on the table

You are applying

You value it, and the certificate cuts it

You value the work line by line and submit the application. When the certificate lands short, the difference is argued line by line too, and your valuation is the evidence.

Applying for payment

the same measurement

You are certifying

You cut it, and you sign your name

You value the same lines from the other chair and issue the certificate. Every percentage you cut has to survive the question of why, a month or a year later.

Certifying payment

You are doing both

You value your own work, alone

You price it, you value it and you apply for it yourself, between site visits. The certificate still has to add up as if a surveyor had built it.

Doing both yourself

You are reporting

You certify value the lender pays on

You certify value in place so the lender can release the next tranche. The valuation is the same arithmetic; the reader was never on site.

Recommending a drawdown

The client, the architect and the tenderer are not on this list. They are the people you let in on a link: they see the one document you sent them, answer it, and that answer is written into the record. No account, no licence, no charge, on every plan.

FAQs

The questions this page raises most often, answered without a sales pitch at the end.

Yes. If your bill is in an awkward format, send it to support and we will tell you the quickest route rather than leaving you to fight it. Either way the sections and subtotals you priced are preserved.

Lines valued by percentage recalculate against the new value. Lines valued as a fixed sum keep the sum you entered. That difference is the whole point of the fixed setting, and it is why lump sums belong on it.

No. Mark it omitted. Deleting loses the record of what was priced and then removed, and at final account the client will ask what happened to it. The audit trail is the answer, and it only exists if the line still does.

No, they are priced separately. Each subcontract carries its own value and retention rate, and the difference between what you certify up and what you certify down is the cash position on the dashboard.

No. QScope keeps the bill in the standard you priced to, whether that is SMM or NRM in the UK or POMI, CESMM or FIDIC Red Book re-measurement internationally. The references, sections and currency are the ones you entered.

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